


Nines Loves Pick-Up Lines

by Wackadaisicl



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Fluff, Gavin Reed Has Issues, Gavin Reed Is A Gay Disaster, Getting Together, I’m tired, M/M, Nines flirting, Panic Attack, Pick-Up Lines, Swearing, There’s No Actual Self Harm Tho, idk how to tag this, it gets a bit emotional though, mentions of self harm, reed900, slight angst, sorta fluff, this was meant to be pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 08:13:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24347800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wackadaisicl/pseuds/Wackadaisicl
Summary: Five times Nines flirted with Gavin and the one time Gavin flirted back
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 8
Kudos: 243





	Nines Loves Pick-Up Lines

**Author's Note:**

> I’m too tired to tell whether this is crap so y’all are gonna have to let me know. 
> 
> I wasn’t planning on this getting as emotional as it did but uh,  
> TW: panic attack and mentions of self harm  
> There’s no actual self harm and the panic attack isn’t very detailed but it happens. I don’t know how this became angsty.
> 
> Also, thank you to my friend Anya for the pick up line in the fourth occurrence!
> 
> Edit: this is absolutely subpar writing but I don’t have the energy to fix it

The first time Nines flirted with Gavin, he had been completely caught by surprise. 

He had been heading towards the break room to make himself another coffee when he saw a blur of black from the corner of his eye. On what must have been instinct he reached out, effectively catching the blur.

He looked down to find Nines looking disheveled and confused as he held him from under his arms. He followed his partner’s gaze to find legs stretched out from under a desk a couple feet away, then followed the legs up to Nines’ face adorning a surprised and apologetic look.

“What the phk happened?” He finally asked, only slightly aggravated.

“I tripped” Nines deadpanned.

“No shit, but why? Don’t you have some military environment scanner, bullshit, thingy?” He was surprised to find a light blue tint dusting the android’s cheeks as he replied.

“I guess I was… distracted.” He raised his eyebrow, unsure what that meant but then Nines continued. “And now it appears I’ve fallen for you, detective”

He dropped Nines from shock but played it off as annoyance as he stormed off to the break room.

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

The second time was just as surprising, greatly due to the poor timing.

They had finally tracked down a drug dealer and had a warrant for his arrest. However, when they arrived at his house, they were surprised to find he wasn’t alone. In fact, there were a total of five people awaiting their arrival.

Nines quickly called for backup but it was too late. Gavin was sure Nines could’ve taken all five of them with ease if it weren’t for him getting in the way. Of course, at the time he was acting on pure instinct so this thought hadn’t crossed his mind.

By time backup arrived three of their attackers were unconscious while the other two ran. Nines was sat leaning against a wall with his thirium pump thrown across the room. When Gavin realized this he ran to grab the pump. This proved extremely painful with a broken rib but he had managed.

He felt sick as he approached his partner, likely about to shut down. He had this glazed over look in his eyes as if he was actually dying. This image would become a frequent inhabitant of Gavin’s nightmares. He bent down to shove the pump back into his partner’s chest cavity.

“C’mon Nines! You’re gonna be alright, you’re fine. You have to be fine!” He could feel the tears begin to slip down his cheeks but he didn’t care. 

He was taken aback when Nines chuckled.

“And here I thought you’d be the one to steal my heart, detective.”

Gavin didn’t have a chance to respond before a medic pulled him back to fix up his wounds.

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

The third time Nines flirted with him was the day after he had saved his cat, Titty, from the alleyways behind his apartment building. He had successfully caught her and brought her to the vet but she had not gone without a fight. He came into work the next day exhausted and with many bandages all over his body, the only visible ones being up and down his arms. 

He hadn’t even gotten the chance to greet his partner with his trademark scowl and witty remark when he found himself being dragged towards the mens bathroom by said partner. When they were safely inside and away from prying eyes, he glared up at the android sufficiently confused.

“What the phk, plastic prick? What’s your issue?” 

“What happened to your arms?” Was all Nines replied, only confusing him more.

“What?” He searched Nines’ face for any clues as to what the hell was going on but found nothing besides a blank expression. Typical fucking machine.

“What. Happened. To your arms?” And now Nines was giving him that same expression his mom used to use when he wouldn’t listen as a kid, effectively pissing him off. What the fucking hell?!

“An alley cat, why the phk do you wanna know?” 

“Show me” Nines’ face went back to that blank expression he couldn’t even begin to understand and he felt what little patience he had begin to drain.

“Uhm, why would I phking do that?” 

Nines seemed to crack right before his eyes. His emotionless mask was gone, leaving behind pure concern and pleading eyes. His always-proper stature fell.

“Please, just- just show me your wrists, Gavin” Nines’ voice was barely above a whisper and he looked like he was ready to sob. 

And then it clicked and his eyes widened. Nines must have seen his bandaged wrists and immediately assumed the worst. He hadn’t even thought about those possible implications until just now. Oh god.

“Wait, do you think I cut myself?” 

Nines didn’t reply, just gave him a desperate look and Gavin suddenly felt bad for worrying him to the point of breaking down in the bathroom.

“Jesus Christ, phking tin can… I’m not _that_ depressed” he muttered under his breath as he unwound the bandage.

Nines gently took his arm to get a closer look. The cuts were bad, he wouldn’t deny that, but there was no mistaking them as anything but cat scratches.

“Little devil refused to chill the phk out. I’ve seen her around a lot, looking way too skinny and beaten up, and I finally decided to do something about it. So I called up the vet and made an appointment before confronting her last night. She sure as phk didn’t come easy, though” He chuckled fondly, hoping to ease the tension between him and Nines who now appeared both relieved and embarrassed.

“Right, well, I’m glad you caught her. I uh- I apologize for overstepping”

“Nah, you may be a dipshit but I get why you would be worried. Just, don’t make dragging me to the bathroom a habit” God, he felt so awkward trying to reassure a goddamn terminator. He immediately regretted his choice of words when he noticed the smirk on Nines’ face.

“Oh but I would so enjoy that”

Gavin couldn’t handle that. Not there, not then. Not after Nines had just broken down in front of him, showing more emotion than he had ever witnessed from his partner, and all because he thought Gavin had been hurting himself. To go from that weird and vulnerable moment to… _that?_ It was just too much for Gavin.

He showed Nines his favorite finger as he stomped out of the bathroom and back to his desk.

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

The fourth time it happened, Gavin was in a very poor mood. He had barely gotten a couple hours of sleep in between nightmares the night before and he was about ready to pass out.

When he walked into the break room in hopes of caffeine being the solution to all of his problems he found Connor and Nines having a conversation in the corner of the room. As soon as they saw him they stopped talking, which was weird enough but the look on Nines’ face was beyond strange.

Nines looked like he had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He had a faint blue blush that Gavin definitely didn’t find adorable. At least not in that moment. He seemed torn between looking away and staring right at Gavin.

He knew they had probably been talking about him but he didn’t have the energy to get too upset. He just wanted to make himself a coffee and get the day over with.

“What‘s your issue, fuckwads?” He asked as he approached the coffee machine, giving them a wary look over his shoulder.

“Nothing, detective. It’s just that, although I am an android and therefore don’t need to breathe, oxygen is beneficial to many of my inner systems and I would appreciate it if you didn’t take my breath away every time you enter the room.”

Gavin jerked his head back towards the androids to find Nines with a dumb smirk on his face. Connor was looking back and forth between them with an amused smile but Gavin didn’t notice, staring intently at Nines and only Nines. He scoffed.

“Well my phking bad, then. I’ll leave you two printers to it”

As he left, coffee in hand, he couldn’t help but overhear Connor.

“I guess you’re right, brother. He seems like a fairly good detective, it’s quite surprising.”

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

The fifth time it happened Gavin had not put extra effort into his appearance. 

So he may have styled his hair and actually shaved and picked out his most flattering shirt but it was not intentional. And it definitely wasn’t because he had hoped a certain android would notice.

No, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Why would Gavin care what Nines thinks about him? Because of some stupid glitch in his system making him overly affectionate at all the wrong times? Because he was the only one who could deal with Gavin’s bullshit? Because he was the only one who actually cared? Because sometimes when everything else in the world seemed like shit Gavin would look to that gorgeously well-designed face and beautiful blue eyes and find himself believing everything would be alright?

Goddamn, he’s fucking whipped.

No matter how many times he tried to remind himself Nines could never fall for a disaster like him and the stupid flirting was just some malfunction in his system, his heart didn’t listen. Refused to listen to logic. He was doomed to rejection.

As he walked into the precinct he tried to appear unassuming. Tried to act like he hadn’t done anything new and hoped no one would notice because he wouldn’t be able to handle being called out. Nines had other plans.

“Well, don’t you look well-groomed today” Nines said as he looked him up and down. This along with the unbridled affection behind the smile he gave Gavin sent him over the edge.

“What’s that supposed to phking mean, plastic prick?” He knew he shouldn’t respond so aggressively but he also had no idea how else to respond. He was running completely on auto-pilot.

“It means exactly what I said. You look good.”

Goddamn android would be the death of him. Gavin’s face burned as he stumbled for a reply.

“Oh, so I don’t usually look good?” Why the fuck did he say that?! He cringed at how defensive he sounded. Like some crazy girlfriend that was always the butt of the joke.

“On the contrary, I do believe you look good everyday. Perhaps ‘clean’ would have been a better descriptor?”

“I- whatever” He mumbled as he quickly left. He didn’t know where he was going but he needed to be away from Nines.

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

He found himself in the men’s bathroom, hiding in one of the stalls.

Goddamn, he’s such a fucking mess. He fucking dressed up for a fucking android. He fucking fell for a fucking android. That fucking android just had to go and call him out on it too. He’s fucking pathetic. He’s acting like some dumbass teenager with a crush.

He didn’t think he’d be able to face Nines after what just happened. He was completely content with staying in that bathroom stall for all of eternity if it meant not seeing Nines. Or at least until he dies from starvation or some shit.

He cursed when he finally noticed the tears streaming down his face. Why the hell was he crying?! His face still burned and his head was pounding, the tears felt sticky on his cheeks. Why the fuck was he so emotional about some stupid flirting? It didn’t make any sense. 

He was an absolute disaster but at least it couldn’t possibly get worse. Or so he thought.

“Gavin?” It just got worse.

He didn’t reply, just picked his feet up so they couldn’t be seen from under the stall door and tried to stifle his sobbing. He heard a gentle knock on the door in front of him.

“Gavin, I know you’re in there. I can detect life forms, remember? There’s no sense in hiding. Please, just talk to me.” Nines' voice sounded all too soft.

“What’s your phking problem? Leave me the hell alone!”

“Gavin, I’m worried about you. I believe you may be sending yourself into a panic. I’m not sure what’s going on but I want to help.”

Nines was right, he realized. That’s why he was so emotional for no goddamn reason. He was overwhelmed and panicked, something that’s happened all too many times before. But damn, the way Nines said his name was not helping.

“Gavin, can you take some deep breaths with me? In and out. In and out” He followed Nines’ instructions, he needed to calm down.

“Good, good. Your heart rate and body temperature are going down. You’re doing great. Everything is okay, just keep breathing for me, Gavin.”

He couldn’t believe this was happening. Couldn’t believe he was falling apart on a toilet while Nines, beautiful and perfect Nines, was talking him through a panic attack from the other side of a bathroom stall. God, he’s such a mess. 

After a few minutes of silence, Nines spoke again.

“Would you mind telling me what’s going on? I understand if you don’t want to talk about it. I’m here if you need me, though.”

Gavin didn’t say anything yet, just opened the stall door to remove the barrier between him and Nines. He knew he looked pathetic but he couldn’t stand not seeing Nines’ face anymore.

Nines held a small smile holding both concern and reassurance. He hated that smile. Hated how that smile made everything better, hated the warm feeling in his chest at the sight. Hated how much he loved it.

“I- I uh… I’m sorry. I got… overwhelmed, I guess. I just- I’m sorry you have to see me like this” 

He couldn’t look Nines in the eyes. Couldn’t look at the disgust or maybe pity they surely held. Was scared he’d find something else behind those icy blues.

“Gavin, you don’t need to apologize. I promise I don’t think any less of you, I just want to understand what happened.”

He hated the understanding in Nine’s voice. He would much prefer a cold and disappointed tone as he mocked Gavin’s weakness. Would much prefer Nines to finally completely shatter his heart so he could build it back stronger and never go through this again.

“Jesus, you happened!” He finally spat out, unable to hold himself back.

“Me?” Nines sounded confused, which he had expected, but he could also hear a faint hurt too. Goddamnit.

“Yes you! You’ve been acting phking weird. You got some goddamn screw loose in your social protocols or some shit?”

“Gavin, I would need to have social protocols for there to be a ‘screw loose’ in them. If that was even how coding worked to begin with.” 

Wait, what?

“Wh- how do you not have- what?”

“I was built solely for hunting deviants, Cyberlife thought it unnecessary to give me any social protocols like Connor has. Any social skills I currently use I have learned over time through research and observation. If you have any feedback it would be highly appreciated.”

Gavin was taken back by Nines’ new expression, one he’d never seen on the android’s face before. He looked insecure.

He thought over what Nines had just said. It was new information to him. Certainly explained why he was such an asshole when he first joined the DPD. Gavin had thought that he had just warmed up to the department over time and stopped being a prick but that wouldn’t explain the countless times Gavin had witnessed Nines’ genuine and kind gestures to complete strangers. No, Nines was far from an asshole. In fact, he was one of the most understanding and caring people he’d ever met. It made sense that he just didn’t have any social skills when they first met.

“It’s just- you’ve kinda...” He couldn’t believe he was about to say this aloud. “You’ve been flirting with me for a while, I don’t know if you realized.” 

“Oh.” His face burned as he turned away again. “And here I thought you were oblivious, detective.”

“What?” He whispered as he slowly risked a glance to his partner.

“I apologize if I made you uncomfortable but I assure you, my… flirting was intentional”

Well shit.

“Why?” He asked so quietly he was sure that if it weren’t for Nines’ enhanced hearing or whatever he wouldn’t have heard him.

“Detective, is it really that hard to believe I could have feelings for you?” His cheeks were dusted with that light blue as he spoke. “I’ve had these feelings for a long time. I know you have difficulty seeing your own worth but when I look at you I see nothing but beauty. I understand if you don’t feel the same way or if you never want to see me again now but you should know, I’m never going to stop caring about you.”

He sat there for a minute, processing Nines’ words. He “had feelings” for him. Nines was flirting because he liked Gavin, not because of some malfunction. Gavin wondered if this was a dream. If he had passed out during his panic attack and just imagined Nines came to his rescue. But then Nines must have taken his silence as an answer and spoke again.

“I’ll leave you be, detective. I’m sorry.” And then he was turning to leave and Gavin began to panic again.

The next thing he knew he was jumping up and grabbing Nines’ wrist, pulling him back. He stared into those blue eyes he adored that were only inches away for a mere second before crashing their lips together.

For a while Nines didn’t respond, probably shocked. But then he was kissing back and Gavin melted at the feeling. When Nines silently asked for more by running his tongue along Gavin’s bottom lip he gladly granted access. He had no idea how long he had wanted this but now that he had it he never wanted to let go.

Unfortunately, he had to pull back to catch his breath. He didn’t go far, though, just enough to admire Nine’s flushed cheeks and wet lips. He looked absolutely gorgeous.

“So I take it you don’t mind the flirting, then?”

“Not as long as you come with it, tin can” And then their lips connected again. 

Neither noticed Hank at the entrance to the bathroom turn right around upon seeing them, deciding he could hold it in a little while longer.

**Author's Note:**

> Uhh, I hope that didn’t suck! The last couple days I’ve been writing this I was kinda all over the place so I hope it was at least somewhat consistent.  
> Anyways, thank you so much for reading! If you want, you can tell me what you think in the comments and likely make my day!


End file.
